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Cult Review
Senior Film Conservator
If you are a fan of old-school Hollywood history or you just like seeing how they made movies before they really knew what they were doing with sound, then yes. If you want a fast plot or big explosions, you should probably stay far away from this one. 🎬
It’s one of those 'Ruritanian' stories where everyone lives in a country that doesn't exist. They spend all their time wearing very stiff collars and trying to trick each other into signing papers.
I think people who enjoy dry humor will like it. People who hate movies where characters stand still for five minutes just to say one sentence will hate it.
So, the main guy is Victor, played by Julio Villarreal. He’s an attache, which is just a fancy word for an assistant who has to do the dirty work.
His boss, the Ambassador, tells him he needs to seduce the wife of the War Minister. Why? To make her husband change his mind about a treaty. Politics was apparently much more interesting back then.
It reminds me a bit of the drama in A Notorious Affair, but with more people looking confused in the background.
The first thing that hit me was the sound. It’s 1931, so every time someone moves a chair, it sounds like a bomb going off. 🔊
There is a scene where they are at a party, and you can tell the extras were told to 'act natural.' One guy in the back is just staring at a lamp for like 30 seconds. It’s distracting but also kind of great.
Julio Villarreal has this way of looking at the camera that makes him seem like he’s in on a joke we don't know yet. He’s much better than the script deserves, honestly.
The whole 'Don Juan' thing is a bit of a stretch. Victor is supposed to be this huge charmer, but he mostly just looks tired.
Celia Montalván is the 'other woman' and she’s actually pretty good. She has these wide eyes that make her look like she’s constantly surprised by the plot. 😲
It’s not as dark as something like The She Wolf. It stays pretty light, even when the politics get messy.
This was part of a weird time when Hollywood made the same movie twice—once in English and once in Spanish for other markets. This one is the Spanish version of a movie called The Boudoir Diplomat.
You can tell they used the same sets. Some of the rooms feel way too big for the two people standing in them. It feels like they are lost in a museum. 🏛️
I found myself wondering if they ever got bored filming these. The pacing is… well, it’s not fast. It’s like a slow walk through a garden where nothing is blooming yet.
It’s definitely more interesting than Youth's Gamble, but that’s a low bar.
There’s a moment where a character enters a room and just stands there for way too long before speaking. I think the actor forgot his line, but they just kept filming anyway.
The treaty they are all fighting over? We never actually find out what’s in it. It could be a grocery list for all we know. 📝
I also loved the way the characters handle hats. They treat hats like they are sacred objects. It’s very 1930s.
It’s not a masterpiece. It’s not even a hidden gem, really. But it’s a cool look at a time when movies were still trying to figure out how to talk.
The ending is pretty predictable. You can see it coming from a mile away, like a train on a very flat track.
If you have 70 minutes to kill and you want to see some vintage flirting, give it a go. Just don't expect it to change your life.
Also, the mustache on the War Minister is definitely fake. I’m 90% sure it moved during the big argument scene. 👨🏻
IMDb 4.3
1918
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